My new husband really likes superheroes, and enjoys seeing the movies as they come out and discussing them with other people. He's read some of the comics in the past and knows a good bit about both Marvel and DC. I, however, do not. While I'm not overly into superheroes, I would like to learn more so that I can engage in conversations with him regarding this aspect of his life that he find interest in! So, can you give me a cliff notes version of what I need to know about Marvel and DC to hold my own in a conversation about them?

-wonderwife

A:

Dear Diana,

Pick a popular super hero, like Wonder Woman, and read the Wikipedia article. That article will refer to different super heroes or villains who you can then look up as well.

Sometimes the pages can be a little overwhelming so I generally read about their back story, their abilities, controversies related to them, and the most recent story line. If you want to read more about the character you can but this will give you enough information to have a better understanding of the characters.

Now, sometimes you can fall into a rabbit hole when you look up every character that is linked in an article (though eventually you'll read most of the popular ones) so just make a list of all the superheroes you can actually name and start there. If you see one of those names pop up, read that article too. If you start seeing a common name among several articles, it might be good to read about that person/organization as well. Once you start reading you may recognize other heroes as you read about them as well so you can add them to your list. This way you can be introduced to a large portion of Marvel/DC superheroes without making the investment of reading tons of comics or watching hours of TV shows (though both of those are also recommended ways of learning about characters because it's more fun but it takes longer).

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